Probate in Lancashire

When a person dies, probate is the act of proving a will, or if none has been made,
deciding who will adminster the deceased's estate. Since 11 Jan 1858, this has been
a civil process, but before that date, it was dealt with by ecclesiastical courts.

In order to determine which ecclesiastical court is likely to have administered probate for an
individual, you need to know where they lived or where they held lands. It is not a process of
determining the county, but initially the diocese. The diocese of Chester was created in 1541,
and this is the diocese for most of Lancashire.
The diocese of Chester was split into archdeaconries which held their own ecclesiastical courts.

N.B. The court in which the will is proved may not be the one covering the area in which a person
lived. In depends on where they held property, and if that was in more than one area covered by the lower
courts, probate will be proved by one of the higher ones. So start looking in the court covering the area
where they lived, but also check the higher courts as well.

The Archdeaconery of Chester in Lancashire, comprised the area south of the River Ribble,
as well as two chapelries in Yorkshire, Saddleworth and Whitewell. All the surviving records for this
area are held at the Lancashire Record Office.

They consist of three series:

Supra wills, where the deceased's estate was valued at over £40.

Infra wills, where the deceased's estate was valued at less than £40.

Diocesan wills, where probate was disputed and legal action take.

Indexes to the wills have been published the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.
N.B. An index entry does not guarantee that a will has always survived.

Date

Type

Volume

Date

Type

Volume

1545-1620

S

2

1781-1790

S & I

44

1590-1665

I

52

1791-1800

S & I

45

1621-1650

S

4

1801-1810 (A-L)

S & I

62

1660-1680

S & I

15 & 63

1801-1810 (M-Z)

S & I

63

1681-1700

S & I

18 & 63

1811-1820 (A-L)

S & I

78

1701-1720

S & I

20

1811-1820 (M-Z)

S & I

79

1721-1740

S & I

22

1821-1825

S & I

107

1741-1760

S & I

25

1826-1830

S & I

113

1761-1780 (A-M)

S

37

1831-1833

S & I

118

1761-1780 (N-Z)

S

38

1834-1837

S & I

120

1761-1780

I

38

1487-1620

D

33

1620-1700

D

43

1700-1800

D

52

There are no printed indexes for the period 1837-1858, but there are manuscript indexes for this period
at the Lancashire record Office.

The Archdeaconery of Richmond comprised the part of Lancashire north of the River Ribble,
and parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. It was further subdivided into deaneries.
Boroughbridge, Catterick and Richmond were known as the eastern deaneries, and their records
are deposited in the West Yorkshire Archive Service in Leeds.
The western deaneries, which are
either wholly or partly in Lancashire, comprise Amounderness, Copeland, Furness, Kendal and Lonsdale.
Their records are held at the Lancashire Record Office.

Indexes to the western deaneries have been published by the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

Date

Volume

Date

Volume

1457-1680

10

1793-1812

66

1681-1748

13

1813-1837

99

1748-1792

23

1838-1858

105

The History
Department at the University of Central Lancashire
have been working for several years on an index of the wills from the
Archdeaconry of Richmond, covering the deaneries of Amounderness,
Copeland, Furness, Kendal and Lonsdale. These deaneries cover parts of
the ancient counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire and
Yorkshire. Some of this has been funded by the Friends of the Lancashire
Record Office, some by the Kirby archives trust and some by the Curwen
archives trust. The index covers 35,000 wills, 1749-1858.

A searchable index will be available free of charge eventually, but in
the meantime, Dr Andrew Gritt would be happy to do searches for individuals if they
send him a stamped addressed envelope, or contact him via email.